The Science of The Devil
by Nights of Despair
Summary: Edward and Alphonse Elric now live in a world where Alchemy has never been heard of - so what gives when Ed suddenly regains his ability to use Alchemy? Set after "The Conqueror of Shamballa".
1. Days of Apathy

**Allow me to present 'Science of the Devil', re-uploaded with spelling corrections~! Enjoy~!  
Disclaimer: I own nothing of FMA, all rights belong to their respective owners, nor am I making any profit off this fic.**

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Chapter One:  
**Days of Apathy**

"Gwaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Brother?"

"A-Alphonse...! Hurry!"

There was a flash of light and a tremer filled the apartment, knocking ornaments from the tables , books off their shelves and cracking a nearby window as foggy beads of rain water slid obliviously down the glass.

"Brother, wha-" The boy stopped himself as he caught his breath after running up the stairs, "Don't yell like that! I thought..."

The blonde haired boy who had called him, didn't turn around. He sat, crosslegged on the floor, a gray shirt that exposed his metallic, automail right arm and a brown pair of trousers rolled up to show his left automail leg. The boy's long yellow hair was pulled back in a ponytail, away from his face which had grown pale from the sight directly in front of him on the floor.

"Hey, are you listening?"

"Alphonse, look at this," The blonde boy spoke quietly, motioning Alphonse over. Alphonse leaned carefully over his older brothers' shoulder and gasped,

"Is that what I think it is?" The blonde boy nodded in response. "Ed, you're a genius!" At this, Edward turned to look up at his little brother,

"Yeah, Al, I think we'll be all right now."

Alphonse's smile couldn't be bigger - he looked much older now than Edward last remembered him. His golden blonde almost light brown hair had grown out and not unlike Ed, had it tied back in a ponytail. He wore a simular pair of trouser pants, with a white long sleeved shirt with this sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Alphonse's innocent brown eyes glanced over Edward's mischevious ones, "Brother, how did you do that?"

Edward leaned back on his hands, still crosslegged on the floor, "I dunno..." The flower vase had been a gift from Grace, the flower woman who worked down the street, and it had come to its demise when Al had bumped it from the end table, shattering the little red painted poreclien vase into tiny fragments. Now, there were two things wrong with that last sentence; first, Grace had the identical appearance of another woman both Ed and Al knew - a kind and loving mother and wife named Grecia who as absurd as it may seem - lived in an alternate reality where Ed and Al had been born and raised. Secondly, the vase which had previously been shattered into a hundred pieces, sat perfectly reconstructed after the flash of light subsided. Alchemy. The of art of science developed, taught and used in the parallel reality but a forbidden and unheard of within the reality in which Ed and Al lived now. Which lead to the next question; how was it possible that Edward was able to fix a broken vase with Alchemy in a world where it was impossible? Both boys picked up on this immediately and starred at each other in awe.

A smirk cracked across Edwards face, "Hey, Al?"

Alphonse sat down beside him, "Yes, brother?" Alphonse carefully picked up the vase as if fearing it to fall apart at any moment. Edward turned to him, his smirk growing wider: ear to ear,

"Do you realize what we can do now? All this time without Alchemy we struggled, but now we can finally get by a little better! I'll get a job to support us and we'll be able to tie loose ends, pay the rent and we'll be able to afford to buy you some new books, Al. Isn't that great?"

Alphonse laughed, "Brother, this is great!" Edward joined in the laughter, clutching at his chest but a great cough racked through his body. Alphonse sat up, alarmed but was dismissed when Ed wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand and waved off the fact that lately his cough had grown worse. With an almost sad look in his eyes, Al stood up and went back to the kitchen downstairs where he had left the hardened bread and goat's cheese unattended on the counter. "Supper will be soon so please wash up, brother, and come down when it's done."

Edward watched his little brother trudge slowly down the stairs, and was reminded of his own foolishness as his cold automail leg stiffened. He sneered at his metal kneecap, "Damn weather..." The rain pattered against the chipped window as if mocking his words. A short flash of light lit the dark rolling clouds. For a second Ed was reminded of the brilliant flashes of light that Alchemy produced, but soon after a low rumble of thunder followed. He sighed. This storm was just beginning.

"Brother, your cough is getting even worse," Alphonse fretted, stacking up papers on the kitchen table, "Do you want me to get you some medicine at the store while I'm out?"

Edward chewed on the piece of buttered toast Al had set out for him, "Don't bother. I'll be fine soon anyways." He looked up as Al sat down across the small wooden table, a frown creasing along his mouth. Alphonse was never good at being upset, it just wasn't what he was used to doing. "Don't look at me like that!"

Alphonse redirected his eyes to the kitchen window where the rain dripped from the gutters above, "Well I'm getting it anyways." He muttered, picking up a glass of orange juice. Edward silently rolled his eyes. Alphonse sipped his orange juice in silence and Edward picked apart his toast. The two often quarrelled about petty things, though lately because of economic times, money became the biggest factor. The papers Al had dumped on the table were documents and notes that he was working on with a research team that hired him a few months ago. Their main objective was something to do with nuclear arms, but that kind of stuff didn't interest Ed. Not unlike Alphonse, Edward had taken up a variety of small jobs to help them get by since Alphonse worked every day for as long as there was sunlight, and didn't pay as much as either of them had hoped.

The blonde haired elder brother leaned back in his chair and hit the kitchen counter. With enough room for a small refridgerator, a toaster oven, small table with two chairs and a window, the kitchen was perhaps the smallest of the rooms in their multi-level apartment. Next to the little kitchen was a slightly larger bathroom, a toliet and a shower. There was also a tiny living room area which had been mounted with books. Somewhere hidden amongest said books was a flight of stairs leading to two bedrooms - one with books about rockets and engineering and the other with books about everything else mainly science, fantasy and astronomy related. "We really need to get out of here, Al. It's too..." Ed bit his lip but said it between gritted teeth anyways, "...small."

Alphonse sighed, "I know." The defeat in his voice was saddening. Enough so to make Ed stand up, thank Al for the breakfast and pull on his red trench coat to step outside into the drizzling wet and foggy morning.

There had been a compromise between the brothers that Ed would get his coat back, on the condition that Al was allowed to copy his braided hairstyle. And this suited Ed just fine. The red trench coat had been fixed up with Alphonse's surprising sewing skills, but hadn't been washed. It smelled like home,_ real _home and Ed wasn't ready to give up on the one thing besides his brother that kept his head focused straight in one direction. That direction was quiet a distance away, from some unknown angle, past time and space itself, back to a world where he yearned for.

"H-Hey! Watch where you're going, kid!"

Edward looked up solemly, his hands in his pockets, "I'm sorry?" He met the eyes of a shifty looking man, his hair slicked back and a fur trimmed vest over a black shirt. He had black trousers and matching buckled boots. To the everyday eye, he was a thief, a con-man and certainly a no-good lying piece of trash no one wanted on the streets. But to Edward, he was someone else. Someone who went by the name, "Greed?"

"What? Kid what are you going on about? Move," The man said, pushing past him and disappearing into an alleyway. If there were two things Ed had learned about this new world was that every person he once knew had a double in this world, and the doubles were nothing short of just that - doubles. Same appearance and same personality.

"Hey wait up," Ed called, running down the alley behind him, "I said wait!"

The man turned in profile, "Don't follow me." He paused when he realized he wasn't going to be left alone, "What the hell do you want?"

Edward pulled at his sleeve, fixing the arm of his coat but then looked at him in the eye, "See this?" Without thinking he pulled the sleeve up, showing off a shiny metallic automail arm. "I know you're interested in it, everyone is." The man tore his gaze from Ed's arm,

"Look kid, I dunno what you're trying to pull but -"

"-I'll tell you more about it if I can join your club."

There was a silence.

"What club?"

Ed smirked, "That hesitation proves it. A club that's hidden somewhere downtown in the slums or something. Am I getting close?" He narrowed his eyes, "A club that may or may not be named something simular to _'Devil's Nest'..._Ever hear of a place like that?" This brought the man to full attention, his mouth twitched. "I'm very interested, if you'd be kind enough to show me the way, _mister_..."

The man ignored the drawled mister, indicating Ed wanted to know his name, and instead addressed the fact that Ed knew more than was possible. "Who told you? How much, nah, nevermind." He continued, "Kids aren't allowed, shorty, so just scram. It's adults only, if you know what I mean."

A nerve twitched above Edward's eye. Nobody joked about Edward Elric's height unless they included an addition deathwish tacked at the end, "_Shorty_?" Blonde bangs sheathed his flaming eyes, "I'll show you why no one makes remarks about my height!" He clapped his hands together, and gave off a devious smile, "And you'll tell me all you know about Devil's Nest."

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**~Days of Despair**


	2. Days of Remorse

Chapter Two:  
**Days of Remorse**

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"I-I give! Stop it, pipsqueak!" There was a flash and a loud scream, "N-No! Sorry! I'm sorry!"

"That's what I thought you said," Edward Elric stated, leaning back casually against the alleyway wall. It was no longer an alley way, because Ed had contructed a couple of walls, making his own private torture chamber for the black haired man across from him. The man glanced up, blood welting up from his nostrails, a cut on his forehead and a black eye.

"Holy god, I thought for sure you were gonna kill me...I mean..." He let out a huff of air, "Holy shit..." The man coughed, blood spraying the cobblestone alley.

Ed turned away from the man, "So do we got a deal?"

There was silence. For a second Ed was worried that the man had collapsed, but he was far from it: instead he sat up, eyes narrowed and a cruel grin on his face, "I like your style kid, what's your name?"

Edward snorted, releasing the walls around them and fixed his red trench coat, "Edward Elric, you may have heard of me - you see, I'm a famous State Alch-" He stopped himself, and dropped his voice to a low monotone, "Edward Elric. Nothing more, and certainly no less."

"Edward, eh? Nice to meet you," The man said, standing to his feet, "My name's -"

"Greed." Edward whispered.

"Eh?" The man asked, "My name's Graeme. Graeme Bader. Buuut," He drawled, pulling out a small white card. He handed it to Edward. 'The Devil's Nest' was written on the top, with a vague picture of a circle with a couple of lines through it. It looked not unlike an Ouroboros tattoo. Beneath it was a phone-number and 'Graeme Bader'. Only it was read like;

G r a e m e B a d e r. With several letters scratched out. The end result was 'Greed'.

"Like it? It's a kinda nickname I acquired at the Nest." Graeme, no, Edward decided to call him Greed. Greed picked himself up, fixed his fur vest and ran a hand through his slick black hair, "C'mon, kid. You wanted to go to the Nest, right? You all ready know too much, so why not satisfy that little mind of yours -"

"Yo, Gr - whaaa?"

"Yeah, shuddup." Greed snapped, wiping his nose on a napkin he grabbed off a table. They had wandered down the back alleyways to reach the downtown area, and had just entered what could've easily been called a hole in a wall. Ed sneered at how familiar it looked, a faded, poorly painted sign hung crookedly above the hole claiming to be the entrance into the establishment. Inside was what appeared to be a small tavern. Dusty pools of yellow light shone on the tables and bar counter. Edward counted eleven figures crowded around the room, one of whom had asked the question when Greed and Edward entered the room. Greed stuck a thumb out in Edward's direction, "Watch what you say around this one."

The figure on the bar stool was stocky but not on the short side. He had a rectangular face with a mullet. "You okay?" This caught Edward's attention - it hadn't been the mullet man who had asked eariler and it wasn't the mullet man talking this time. A another head popped around mullet man's large body. A small man with a crooked eyebrow and pinched mouth as if he was eating something sour. Edward looked up. _It's funny_, Edward thought, thinking back to Greed's chimera and their hideout. _How everything has a double..._

Greed ignored the question from the pinched faced man and sat heavily on a sofa that had been pushed up against a wall. "Ahh!" He sighed, wrapping his arms back along the top of the sofa, "Nothing like home, eh, Ed?"

Edward snorted, and remained standing by the counter. His gaze swept the room: if The Devil's Nest had a counter-part, this was it for sure. The odor of burnt hair, cigarettes and urine hung stagnant in the air. "Damn, this is a dump," Ed said, finally sitting down on a barstool, making sure to sit a couple away from the beasty-looking man with the mullet and the pinched face of the shorter man. The pinched faced man sneered at him, "Yo, Greed." He didn't wait for a reply, "Who the hell is this squirt?"

Edward's eye twitched.

Greed glanced towards the man as if ordering him to watch his tongue. The man shut up. He was smarter than people gave him credit for. "Please excuse him. He's got a mouth that won't stay closed." Edward snorted,

"I know a few people like that." Yet again he looked around, half expecting for the three chimera's to emerge from the shadows. He shook his head, his blonde bangs shadowing his dropping eyes. No, of course they wouldn't be here. It was a shot in the dark that Edward had found Greed, even more impressive that there was a Devil's Nest: but Ed knew that Roa the bull chimera and Dorochet the dog chimera's, other forms, before they had been altered, were working with Al at the science factory.

The pinched face man swiveled on his barstool back to his glass of rusted orange liquid. The mullet man didn't even acknowledge that anyone had spoken. _Strong, silent type, huh?_, Edward mused, redirecting his attention to Greed. Somehow he had aquirred two german women on either side of him. One was a blonde with features that were too sharp and bony the other was a brunette with a nose that had been broken too many times. "Want one?" Greed asked, a grin on his bloody face of which the simple-minded women were pestering over.

"No." Edward stated. He took one last look around the room, "There wouldn't happen to be a woman here...Blonde with a tattoo or something?" Martel, the snake chimera was all that Alphonse had talked about for the longest time, and apparently she had a good side that could help give out very helpful information. The next step was hoping that out of the three chimera's at least one still was attracted back to their old hideout. At the word 'blonde', the blonde haired bony featured one looked up,

"Me?" She asked in a high pitched voice. She recieved a pat on the head from Greed, not unlike a dog. A bitch, per sae.

"Nope." Greed said. "We've got lotsa women, but none that you're looking for."

"Yeah, nevermind then."

With a pitiful look, Ed turned away. Not only was he in a different world, but a different era. He wasn't sure why he was asking, nor did he really know what prompted him to beat the location of the Devil's Nest out of Greed. _Answers,_ He thought, _I guess._

"Mr. Greed, I've brought you what you asked for," Came a voice from behind Ed. A woman walked past him, carrying a bag of odds and ends to set beside Greed. Ed couldn't help but notice she was wearing a blue skirt and top resembling something of the Military.

"Shit..." Edward rubbed his eyes, "There's too many things that..." No one seemed to hear him as he mumbled, "...remind me of home..."

There was a crack of thunder and a bright flash far off in the distance. That damned storm was mocking him, as if calling out, _'Look! Alchemy! Alchemy_!' The rain came down soon after. Sheets of heavy downpour blocked the view of the outside, giving the alleyways a heavy and very dreary feeling. Edward slumped forward, his automail hand covering his face. _It didn't rain this much back home_, He thought. It was the rain that cried for him.

"Edward," Greed said, standing up from the sofa and its two other occupants, "Why don't you tell us what you're up to? I'm very curious you know." He tapped Ed's right arm, "If you know what I mean." Greed's hungry eyes looked up at Mr. Mullet and Squinty Eyes, "Did ya know he can do magic? Devil stuff, like magic. Devil magic." He paused, "But it must be some sort of science-y stuff I guess. Like, devil science." Squinty Eyes made a smart remark but Mr. Mullet remained quiet. "It's true. Show 'em, Ed." Greed continued.

Without a way out, Edward clapped his hands together. It was amazing, how something unheard of in this world was so popular in his. What was even more astounding was that for the first year neither he nor Alphonse could perform it. Alphonse.

"Shit!" Edward said, standing up suddenly making Squinty Eyes jump with a yelp, "I gotta go, I'm late."

"Hey now, why the big rush?" Greed asked casually. This was a cue for Mr. Mullet to stand up and block his way. "I invite you to my home and this is the thanks I get? Shit, man, show some respect."

Edward turned, his eyes focused steadily, "I know all about you guys, so screw off or I can report you."

"And we can just as easily say that you assulted me in an alleyway, and do evil deeds with magical powers." This earned a few chuckles from the thick stench of smoke in the back.

Edward closed his eyes and willed with all his might that when he open them he'd be back home. In his real home. Not some low run, tiny apartment he shared with his little brother Alphonse, but home in the Capital in Amerstris - hell, even home in Resembool would be great right about now. He opened his eyes. A looming man stood over him. Nope, not home.

The next few minutes passed by so quickly that before he knew it, the golden haired boy with the red trench coat was running through the alleyways to reach Main Street, sheets of cold rain blistering his face. But in the back of his mind he knew that if he stopped he'd be killed by the raging emotions that he had left to build up at The Devil's Nest.

Overhead, the rain refused to stop or give Ed an estimate of how long he had been gone. "Shiiiiiiiiittt..." He panted, running around corners. He didn't know what would be worse - being killed by Greed and his gang for bailing, or having to face the wrath of Alphonse if he was late for dinner. This only prompted him to run faster.

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**~Days Of Despair**


	3. Days of Insight

**Congrats to any and all who've managed to get this far...I shall reward you greatly, with a horrible ending! Mwahahaha! No, I won't, I'm just kidding...or am I? No, probably not. It's a crappy ending where everyone explodes and it rains cookies...Oh my god, I should totally put that at the ending - it'd make it much better than if Ed woke up and it turned out to be all a dream. Dream endings are such a bore. Okay, that settles it - the ending will have everyone blow up and it will rain cookies. Now that you know the ending, feel free to skip all this nonsense and read another fanfic, or you could continue reading anyways.**

**Without further ado, enjoy~!**

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Chapter Three:  
**Days of Insight**

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap..." He took a deep breath, "Crap, crap, craaaaaappp...!"

Edward Elric ran as fast as he could, the cold sheets of icy rain plastering his blonde hair to his forehead. He could feel his automail limbs freezing up, as he continued blindly through the storm out of the alleyways. He didn't know what was worse: dealing with Greed's goons or dealing with Alphonse if he was late for dinner.

His head swirled with thoughts, giving him a headache. There was a flash of white light, and a high pitched ringing sound - the ground gave away under his feet.

"Nnnngh...damn..."

A zephyr-like feeling swept around his body as Edward opened his eyes and glanced around, "W-What the hell...?" In front of him loomed a large gray inscripted door. Ed stumbled to his feet.

"Welcome back..." A voice whispered from behind him, "Why are you here now? Did you want to go back home...?"

Without turning Ed lowered his head, clenching his fist, "I could ask you the same. Why am I here?"

There was a pause of hesitation as the voice responded, "Oh...you didn't come here on purpose?" Ed didn't answer, but instead stared at his feet. "Then you must've done it subconciously." His eyes drifted up to the massive door. "But I must say it's odd timing..." The voice droned on, but the FullMetal Alchemist wasn't listening. _No_, Edward thought, _I'm not in Amestris anymore. I'm no longer the FullMetal. But,_ He placed his right hand on the heavy looking door and gave it a slight push. It didn't budge. Suddenly a thousand scenarios, memories and equations ran through his head. The door was The Truth. The Truth was Alchemy. Therefore, the door was also Alchemy and Alchemy was The Truth. If the door was to represent Alchemy, then it must not have fully disappeared when Ed had sacrificed it and himself to save Alphonse. If that was the case, then..Edward smirked and spoke aloud, "Hey, I'll be back real soon." He turned around to face the voice, a ghastly figure of a semi-transparent boy, "I've got someone I need to talk to first."

There was another blinding light and suddenly the ground reappeared at his feet. Edward stood there, momentarily stunned, but wasted no time continuing his run through the icy rain.

"!"

A face appeared from around the corner of the kitchen wall, "Brother, please don't yell, you'll get in trouble again." Alphonse paused, narrowing his eyes, "And you're late for dinner."

"Uh, sorry...But nevermind that-"

"And you're soaked!"

"Hey, can you let me finish-"

"You'll get a cold!"

"Al!" Ed snapped. But he didn't argue as he began peeling off his soaked jacket. Alphonse waited for him to continue. His blonde-haired little brother didn't remind him of a little brother, but rather a mature teenager who worried about everyone but himself. "I figured it out, Al. The Truth. It never really went away, it was just dormant."

"Ed what are you ta-" Alphonse was interupted by Ed's wide smirk, "B-But brother...You can't mean..."

Edward moved through the little kitchen and began his short hike up the stairs, "That's right Alphonse, we can go back. There's a possibility that we can go back home."

"But we are home."

"Real home. Amestris."

"But what about our friends here? This is our home now, Ed."

Edward paused, half-way up the stairs and looked back down into the solemn eyes of his year younger brother, "Al..." Then he turned and continued to his bedroom, locking the door behind him.

Two days had passed since Ed ran from Greed's hideout and had been spent by Ed, locked in his bedroom, surrounded by books and prostetic limbs.

"Hmmnn.." There was a grunt and the thud of a book closing. Edward leaned back against the bookshelf and let out a sigh, running one hand through his blonde hair, "Gawdammit..." A soft knock on the door derailed his train of thought:

"Brother? I'm going out soon...do you need anything?"

"No, thank you, Alphonse."

There was a hesitant pause, "Hey, is your cold better?"

Ed raised his head, "Uh, yeah I guess so." He rubbed his throat, "Yeah, I'm good..." He saw Alphonse's eyebrows knit together in worry, "What?"

"It's just," Alphonse said, "That you had a really bad cold and now, after just a few days it disappears." Ed gave him a quizzical but far from satisfactory look, "Not that I'm not glad that you're better, of course! D-Don't look at me like that! Fine, I'm going shopping...Bye." Edward acknowledged his farwell and watched his brother close the door again. His footsteps faded down the creaky stairs.

Edward glanced back at the book he had closed and left beside him, a piece of a napkin sticking from its corner. He sighed again, pulling the napkin out, crumbled and bloodsplotted. Edward wiped his mouth again and supressed another cough.

The sun had decided that once it was not wanted, it shone the brightest through the dusty, cracked window glass, sheeting Edward Elric's face in a warm bath of sunlight. Ed rolled over, his book-covered bed groaning under the combined weight of Ed and five dozen texts. His arm clinked against the metal bed frame. _Shit...if I could find Hohenhiem then maybe..._

Edward drew a sharp breath, clenching his fists and curling his toes, trying to curl up as small and insignificant as possible. Maybe the bedsheets would open up and swallow him whole. But they didn't. "Ah, fuh-" He kicked out his legs, unfurled his arms and arched his back, "-ucccckkkk!" Suddenly a searing pain ripped through his chest, he doubled over, coughing and choking on blood that erupted from his lungs.

A small voice, familiar, cold and taunting entered his mind, "I see you're not doing too well..." Edward could almost hear the smile in the ghastly boy's voice as it echoed between his ears.

Ed covered his ears and murmmered into his bedsheets.

"I'm sorry...I didn't catch that..."

"I said get out of my head!" Edward yelled.

There was silence.

Someone drove by in a truck, honking the horn. A bird chirped from the tree outside the window. The soft hush of a warm summer breeze stirred the sounds of friendly conversation from below. And Edward sighed.

"I guess you can figure out how to stop your own problems then. You won't need me..."

"W-What?" Edward's eyes opened. He pulled himself into a sitting position, "Problem? My only problem here is you -"

"You said you'd see me soon," Said the voice, "but you waited so long that I figured I might as well say hello myself." There was a pause. "And your problem here," Edwards eyes drifted over to the blood specked napkin, "Would be your health...It's funny, really," The voice continued, "How you don't seem to be able to link your use of Alchemy with your 'cold'. Did it occur to you that because you've forced your Alchemy back from The Truth you've taken a major toll on your health? Did you ever think once about what this world was made of without Alchemy? Did you ever consider that this was what your brother wanted you to avoid? What about your father? Your friends? You?"

Edward muffled a cough, turned and closed an open book. He hastily shoved it over to a pile beside the bed. He closed another one with a soft _thump_.

"You're taking your life in your hands when you use Alchemy, you know that." The voice said, "You grew up with Alchemy - you've known it your entire life, and since you've been deprived of it, you have forced it's knowledge back to you. You were so selfish to know The Truth that you've risked your life. Such a shame..." Edward pushed another book off the bed. _Thump._ "You're dying, you know that?" _Thump._ "Such strain and pressure to force an unnatural thing back into existance...Inhumane..." _Thump._ "Pitiful." _Thump._ "Selfish." _Thump._ "Sadistic, even." Edward grasped the thickly bound book in his right hand, his knuckles turning white. The voices' last words echoed through his head. Sadistic. Sadistic. Sad. Sad. Sad...

With as much force as he could muster, Edward heaved the heavy book across the room. It crashed through the window, shattering the glass, and landed somewhere out onto the busy street below. Suddenly, all of Edward's strenght drained. He didn't want to move, just lay on his bed, curl up and plead to the blood and tear stained bedsheets that they devour him.

"Am I really dying?" Edward asked himself aloud. No one answered him. He took the silence in a sour stride, closing his eyes tightly until little white dots appeared on the back of his eyelids. "Heh, I'm not dying. That's ridiculous. Stupid." Ed rubbed his still closed eyes with his fists, his voice sounded strange to his ears. It sounded so distant and foreign and -

He opened his eyes and shot up in bed. Edward glanced over his pile of books and let out a small sigh of relief. It wasn't a dream was it? He saw the shattered window. No, not a dream. Or was it? He glanced at his hands. One metal, one with flesh. He pressed them together and slowly brought them down onto a piece of torn cloth laying on his shelf.

There was a short burst of light and a crackling sound as the cloth grew and morphed into a small fabric swan, sitting delicately where the torn cloth once lay. He still had Alchemy.

A knock on the door made him turn his head to see his younger brother standing with a concerned look on his face, "Brother..." Alphonse said as he lifted up a heavy looking book not unlike the one he had thrown out the window, "Are you all right?"

Edward let out a stagnant sigh and ran a hand through his golden hair, "Hey Al," He ignored his brother's question, "Do you honestly want to go back home. To Amestris? Yes or no?"

Al paused, setting the book down on the bed as he sat beside his older brother. "I-I would like to see Winry, and Grandma Rockbell and Mustang and Hawkeye and everyone else, but," Alphonse drew a quiet breath as if considering his words carefully, "I've grown fond of this world too, and I'm afraid that if we leave here then something bad will happen. We promised that we'd protect this world while everyone else protects Amestris and that world." Alphonse looked Edward in the eye as he spoke calmly, with a dignified and mature tone, "I want to stay with you, brother, where ever you are I will be, too."

Without remarking, _Because that stupid Hohenheim jerk won't be back anytime soon_, Edward simply nodded with a smile. "You're absolutely right, Alphonse." He glanced down at his hands again, the corner of his eye catching on the blood stained napkin. He swallowed, easing his mind, "And I promise," He turned back to Alphonse with a determined glint to his eye, "That I'll start taking better care of myself so we can stay here even longer to protect this world."

"What about Alchemy?"

Edward shook his head briskly, "No. No more Alchemy. It was dormant - it never truely went away, but it was never meant to be of use in this world anyway. Maybe sometime later once I can more easily awaken The Truth, I may use it again." Edward smirked, "But if that jerk Hohenheim finds a way to use Alchemy without strain, without consequences on the body, and only if it helps protect this world, and you Alphonse." He added, "Only if it protects everyone. Hopefully that'll stop me from seeming like an inhumaine, pitiful, selfish and sadistic idiot."

Alphonse cracked a smile over his face as he watched his brother. He was finally beginning to mature - and it only took eighteen years, two worlds and the threat of his life countless times to finally, finally, finally, knock some sense into that full metal head of his.

THE END

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**P.S. Everyone explodes and it rains cookies.**

**~Days of Despair**


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